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A modelling investigation into lake-breeze development and convection triggering in the Nam Co Lake basin, Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

This paper uses the cloud resolving Active Tracer High-resolution Atmospheric Model coupled to the interactive surface model Hybrid in order to investigate the diurnal development of a lake-breeze system at the Nam Co Lake on the Tibetan Plateau. Simulations with several background wind speeds are conducted, and the interaction of the lake breeze with topography and background wind in triggering moist and deep convection is studied. The model is able to adequately simulate the systems most important dynamical features such as turbulent surface fluxes and the development of a lake breeze for the different wind conditions. We identify two different mechanisms for convection triggering that are dependent on the direction of the background wind: triggering over topography, when the background wind and the lake breeze have the same flow direction, and triggering due to convergence between the lake-breeze front and the background wind. Our research also suggests that precipitation measurements at the centre of the basins on the Tibetan Plateau are not representative for the basin as a whole as precipitation is expected to occur mainly in the vicinity of the topography.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) Priority Programme 1372 “Tibetan Plateau: Formation, Climate, Ecosystems” as part of the Atmosphere–Ecology–Glaciology–Cluster (TiP-AEG): FO 226/18-1,2. The work described in this publication has been supported by the European Commission (Call FP7-ENV-2007-1 grant no. 212921) as part of the CEOP-AEGIS project (http://www.ceop-aegis.org/) coordinated by the University of Strasbourg. The authors wish to acknowledge Esri ArcGIS, the Microsoft Corporation, Harris Corp. and Earthstar Geographics LLC for the provision of map data of the Nam Co Lake. The landcover map was produced by Sophie Biskop and Jan Kropacek within the framework of DFG-TiP. MODIS images were provided through AERONET, and we thank the MODIS team for their work. GFS-FNL data were produced by the National Center for Environmental Prediction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Tobias Gerken, Tobias Biermann, Wolfgang Babel & Thomas Foken

  2. Department of Geography, Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK

    Tobias Gerken, Michael Herzog & Hans-F. Graf

  3. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yaoming Ma

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  1. Tobias Gerken
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  2. Tobias Biermann
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  3. Wolfgang Babel
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  4. Michael Herzog
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  5. Yaoming Ma
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  6. Thomas Foken
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  7. Hans-F. Graf
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Correspondence to Tobias Gerken.

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Gerken, T., Biermann, T., Babel, W. et al. A modelling investigation into lake-breeze development and convection triggering in the Nam Co Lake basin, Tibetan Plateau. Theor Appl Climatol 117, 149–167 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0987-9

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